


Coasters and Clowns

by JiniZ



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Dollywood, Fluff, M/M, Roller Coasters, Sam Has a Fear of Clowns, just go with it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-27
Updated: 2015-12-27
Packaged: 2018-05-09 16:34:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,008
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5547482
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JiniZ/pseuds/JiniZ
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Tumblr Prompt from <a href="http://meangreenlimabean.tumblr.com/">MeanGreenLimaBean</a></p><p>I just saw an OTP prompt on a suggested blog on my phone and now it’s gone forever but the feels remain - it was something about strangers holding hands before the drop on a rollercoaster. Wouldn’t that be perfect for Sam & Gabe? Because AU or not, Sam would assume with all he’s seen & done, a silly little amusement park ride couldn’t rattle him, but once he gets to the top of that first hill his stomach just drops and he starts to get legit terrified, because as unlikely as it is, these things do break sometimes (he’s read the wrongful death claims) and he’s never had the best luck. But Gabe loves the rush of that freefall and he’s trying not to laugh at this gorgeous panicking moose beside him, and at the last second he just takes Sam’s hand in his and squeezes, and Sam is so surprised and confused he forgets to be scared OH MY HEART JINI SEND HELP</p>
            </blockquote>





	Coasters and Clowns

**Author's Note:**

  * For [meangreenlimabean](https://archiveofourown.org/users/meangreenlimabean/gifts).



> Unbeta'd. I *should* be working on my Rare Pair Bang, but nooooo. Shellie has to send me a prompt.

Sam Winchester is ridiculously tall, which goes without saying. He’s also good-looking, smart, and incredibly well-built with square shoulders, and a shoulder-to-hip ratio that would make professional bodybuilders jealous.

 

He’s also afraid of clowns. 

 

Considering that Sam Winchester hunts monsters with his brother, Dean, for a living, you’d think that he wouldn’t be afraid of anything, and in general, he’s not. He’s practical and rational about those things that go bump in the night, researching them fully so he knows what he and Dean will be hunting at any given moment. 

 

Clowns are another story.

 

As a kid - and before those places had any kind of real security in place - Dean used to dump Sam at Plucky Pennywhistle’s Magical Menagerie for a few hours while he found some random girl to take back to their motel room and screw. At first, Sam kind of likes the place. It’s like an off-brand Chuck E. Cheese’s with games and pizza. Sam never has enough money for the games, but he’s okay doing his homework there. 

 

The day that Plucky Pennywhistle’s becomes more like Freddy Fazbear’s than Chuck E. Cheese’s, Sam is twelve. Dean shows up at the motel after school with a blonde who looks vaguely familiar - Claire? Clarice? Sam can’t remember. Dean mutters and “Amscray,” and jerks his thumb to the door. Sam knows the drill and Plucky Pennywhistle’s is barely a block away from the motel, so he gathers up his homework and heads on down there, figuring to give Dean an hour. If that’s not enough, then too bad.   

 

The teenager at the entrance barely looks interested when Sam enters. Sam scans the familiar room - they’re all the same, just like McDonald’s - looking for a free spot. It’s kind of busy for a weekday, but Sam manages to find a small booth towards the back. He bypasses the games and the food counter, wishing he had enough money for even their crappy pizza, and settles in, spreading out his history homework. 

 

Maybe ten minutes go by when a guy dressed in a clown costume skips by Sam’s table, laughing and honking a bicycle horn. Sam glances up at him, gives a small smile then turns back to his homework, trying to remember if the presidents went Taylor-Polk-Tyler or Tyler-Polk-Taylor. He is surprised when the clown sits across from him. “Whatcha studying?” he asks. 

 

Sam furrows his brow. “History,” he says. 

 

“History, huh?” the clown repeats. 

 

Sam issues a non-committal “Mmm-hmmm,” and goes back to his homework. The clown honks his horn, causing Sam to jump. “Okay, you got me.” he says, chuckling a bit.

 

“Ever hear of Pennywise?” the clown asks. 

 

“ _ It,  _ right?” Sam asks. The clown nods. “I haven’t read it,” Sam says. He goes back to his homework. 

 

“Shame.” He honks the horn and Sam jumps again, but says nothing. “What about  _ Killer Klowns from Outer Space _ ?”

 

“No.”

 

Honk. “Poltergeist?” Sam shakes his head. “John Wayne Gacy?”

 

Sam goes stock still. He knows all about John Wayne Gacy, serial killer, convicted of killing 33 boys in Chicago. Gacy had dressed as a clown for local fundraisers, and while he never lured his victims while in costume, clowns and serial killers were suddenly linked forever. 

 

Honk. 

 

Sam slams his book shut and slides it off the table into his arms while getting up as quickly as he can. 

 

Honk. 

 

He bolts for the door and runs all the way back to the motel room without looking back. He throws open the door, not bothering to check on Dean and whatshername and heads straight for the bathroom. 

 

“Sam?” He can hear his brother on the other side of the door. He doesn’t answer and waits for the muffled apologies that Dean offers to the girl, telling her he’ll see her tomorrow to end. As soon as they do, Dean is right back at the door. “You okay, Sammy?” 

 

Sam wants to tell Dean about what happened, but he’s certain that Dean will overreact and storm down to the place half-cocked, wanting to fight the guy. And Sam isn’t sure that he didn’t overreact himself. Maybe he did. Maybe the guy was just trying to make awkward conversation. Deep down, he doesn’t really believe it, but it’s what he’s telling himself to keep from a full-blown panic attack. “Yeah. Just didn’t feel well.” He flushes the toilet at a decoy and runs the water before opening the door. “Sorry to ruin your date.”

 

“It’s okay, Sam.” Dean ruffles his hair affectionately. “You wanna rest?”

 

Sam nods. “Yeah. That’d be perfect.” Dean lets him pass to the far bed, and Sam toes off his sneakers when he sits. He doesn’t bother changing into sleep clothes, just snuggles on top, trying to push the clown out of his mind. 

 

It doesn’t work. He wakes up in a cold sweat, half panicky from a dream that he was being chased by a clown brandishing a large knife. Sam woke up just after he tripped and just before the clown could do any real damage to him. He’d spent the rest of the night sitting up, glancing nervously around the room to make sure no clowns got in.

 

It took three weeks for that dream to subside from a nightly to a weekly, and then monthly occurrence. Even now that Sam is a grown man, he still has the clown dream a few times a year. 

 

Which is why, when he finds himself riding the line ride for Thunderhead at Dollywood for a bit of R&R after a hunt, it doesn’t even occur to Sam that he may be scared of the old-fashioned wooden roller coaster. By modern coaster standards, the Thunderhead is almost quaint: its drop is only a hundred feet and hits a top speed of 55 MPH. He knows that the Kingda Ka at Six Flags New Jersey has a drop of 456 feet and hits 128 MPH in 3.5 seconds, and that just might freak him out a bit. But this one is a cake walk.

 

“Single rider?” the voice behind him asks.

 

Sam turns to see a familiar man standing behind him. “Gabriel? What are you doing here?”

 

“I could ask the same of you, Sammy.”

 

“It’s Sam.”

 

“Of course. Sam. I decided to take a day off. Have some fun.” 

 

Sam cocks an eyebrow. “At Dollywood.” 

 

Gabriel blows off Sam’s words. “Pfft. And you? Why are you here?”

 

“We finished off a case in Sevierville.” He shrugs. “I figured I’d do the tourist thing.”

 

“Well then,” Gabriel starts, clasping his hands together. “You’re in for a treat. I’m single. You’re single. And the Thunderhead is my second favorite wooden roller coaster in the good ol’ US of A.”

 

Sam crosses his arms across his chest. “And who says I wanted to ride with you?” They shuffle forward as the line moves a bit.

 

“Sam!” Gabriel fakes indignation. “You wound me! Of course you do! Just for my excellent company alone.” The woman in front of them snorts at their antics. “See? Even she agrees with me!”

 

The woman puts her hands up as her husband tries to ignore everything around him. “Oh, no. Keep me out of your domestic issues,” she says playfully. 

 

Sam’s eyes widen. “Oh, we’re not -”

 

“Of course we are, Sam.” Gabriel loops his arm around Sam’s and the woman smirks at them. “He’s just worried what people in The South will think of an out and proud couple.” Sam sputters and blushes.

 

“Y’all are adorable,” she says. The line moves again and this time the woman and her husband snag the last car on the ride leaving Sam and Gabriel waiting for the next go ‘round. 

 

“Have fun storming the castle,” Gabriel says as the cars pull away. She waves back to them, a big smile on her face. Her husband stares resolutely ahead.

 

“Really?” Sam asks giving Gabriel a bitchface. “Did you have to do that?”

 

“Yes. You know how much I love messing with you, Samsquatch.” He smiles brightly. “Now let’s just enjoy the ride.” 

 

Sam sighs dramatically as they wait for the next round of cars to come up. When they do, Sam insists on riding in the last car even though Gabriel insists on the first one. Sam knows how tall he is and he’s mindful of that and wants the other riders to not have to be stuck looking at the back of his head. 

 

It’s Gabriel’s turn to sigh dramatically as he marches to the first car, ignoring Sam’s protests. Sam throws his hands up in the air. “Fine.” May as well ride with someone you know than a stranger, so Sam follows behind reluctantly, clambering into the car after Gabriel. 

 

The worker does a pass-through, checking to ensure everyone is settled and the bars are in the proper position to start the ride. Gabriel giggles - actually giggles - in anticipation to start moving. Sam looks down on him and smiles. He may be a bit of a pain in the ass, but Gabriel does have his moments. 

 

It’s when the cars start moving that Sam begins to have second thoughts. Suddenly, every news story of roller coaster accidents flash in Sam’s head and he realizes there is absolutely nothing he can do about it if something does go wrong. (And knowing his luck, they probably will.) He’ll be nothing but a large projectile if the cars happen to fly off the track.  _ Maybe it won’t be so bad,  _ he thinks.  _ It only hits 55. The damage can’t be too bad if it does happen. _ Sam swallows hard and thinks he might be sick. He makes a mental note to apologize to the people behind him if he does. 

 

Next to him, Gabriel is practically bouncing as the ride starts its ascent to the top of the first hill. This is the part Gabriel likes best: cresting that first hill and then rocketing down face first, wind whipping across it. When he feels Sam tense up next to him, Gabriel glances over and sees the giant moose of a man paler than he’d ever seen him. Sam is white-knuckling the bar across their laps and Gabriel suppresses the urge to laugh at him. 

 

Just as they reach the top, Sam squeezes his eyes shut. Gabriel takes pity and places a hand over his on the bar. Sam is too startled by the gesture to notice they’ve started flying down the hill. It’s the turn that brings him back to reality. “Oh, shit,” he says over and over again. Gabriel smiles at him the whole time.

 

By the time the cars reach the beginning of the ride, Sam is only marginally calmer. The coaster only lasted for two minutes, but Sam it certain it was more like twenty, and accuses Gabriel of bending time to make it last longer. Gabriel crosses his heart that he did no such thing. “If I thought you were in any real danger of losing your shit,” Gabriel says, “I would have. But you were so cute all scared and -” He stops short realizing what he just said. 

 

“You think I’m cute?” Sam stops in front of a bench and sits.

 

Gabriel flounders for a moment. “Well, yeah. When you’re scared. But not any other time. Any other time you’re just gross. Not cute at all. And I really need to shut up.” He drops his head into his hands. Sam pulls him into his lap and gently pries Gabriel’s hands from his face. 

 

“Well, if it makes a difference, you’re cute, too.” He kisses the tip of Gabriel’s nose. “But only when you’re being nice. Any other time you’re just gross,” he mimics back to Gabriel. “Not cute at all.”

 

“Shaddup.” Gabriel leans in to kiss Sam lightly on the lips. “Anything else I can protect you from other than roller coasters?”

 

Sam touches his forehead to Gabriel’s. “Clowns?” 

 

“Done. Now let’s go find a quiet spot to make out, huh?” Gabriel waggles his eyebrows and Sam rolls his eyes. 

  
  
  
  



End file.
